Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield Recorded ‘Space Oddity’ Using GarageBand On His iPad! [Updated]

By now, you’ve probably see Commander Chris Hadfield’s tear-jerking farewell to the International Space Station: a cover of David Bowie’s classic space song, Space Oddity, filmed and performed by Hadfield himself in zero-g. In case you haven’t, we’ve embedded it above: it’s hard not to be proud of humanity after watching it.

But do you know how Hadfield actually recorded it? With his iPad, of course.

Is that the first iPad in space? Maybe not, but it’s certainly the most accomplished.

Update: Originally, this article nonsensically said that Hadfield “filmed and edited” the video “on his iPad using Garageband.” Obviously, this makes no sense — GarageBand is a music program, not a video editing program — and I apologize for the brain fart: I have no idea how I made such a mistake. Instead, the song was recorded in space using Hadfield’s iPad, and the video was edited on Earth by Hadfield’s son, Evan Hadfield. Thanks to Evan for setting me straight, and I’m sorry about the confusion.